Disappointment of an Olympics fan

During the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games, I was six years old and a budding figure skating fan, glued to the television watching not cartoons, but Tara Lipinski’s gold-medal winning performances.  I crayoned homemade signs reading “Go for the Gold, Tara!” and once she won that gold, well, anyone passing through our cul-de-sac knew, thanks to the posters plastered to the front windows of our house. The Olympics had me hooked.

Fast forward 12 years. I’m 18, and the Olympics are on North American soil, turning Vancouver into Canada’s new capital for 17 days. No surprise, I’m not the next Tara Lipinski, but my excitement for the Games hasn’t dimmed. The countdown started sometime in early December, and the 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History came down off the library shelf late January. The only thing that could have heightened the excitement was if I’d actually booked the tickets to Vancouver whose fares I’d religiously checked.

It wasn’t the torch lighting malfunction that slightly dampened my high spirits. It wasn’t the corny nightly “fireside chats”, or Bob Costas’ terrible dye job, the slushy speed skating ice, or the commentators’ habit of giving athletes cutesy nicknames like “Uhrmann the German.” I’ll forgive that. No, it was the network that brought me the coverage of the Games I love: NBC.

Never before have I been so tempted to get on my knees and thank God for the miracle of technology my DVR is. For every one hour of watching NBC coverage, I think I saw about 10 minutes of actual sport. And with all the coverage so “exclusive,” I saw only what NBC decided to air, when it wanted to air it; for women’s downhill, this meant only six runs during prime time.

For an event that prides itself in bringing together the world, the Olympics I saw were lacking. During women’s snowboard halfpipe, NBC cut to commercials each time a Canadian rider competed. It got to the point where that evening saw me attempting to watch live streaming online off of a site with Chinese subtitles in order to see an event in its entirety.

I guess the worst part of it was though, that as much as I disliked NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, I still watched it. I still tuned in every night because it was my only option. I can sit here and complain about the network, but my television boosted their ratings. As pathetic the coverage was, I still loved the Olympics. I loved the thrill of watching athletes take tight turns down an icy course, I loved the fist pumping and tears of medal winners, the soaring notes of the Olympic theme song. As much as I hate to admit it, without NBC, I wouldn’t have that.

So here’s the thing, NBC. We need each other. What’s that term from freshman year biology? Symbiotic relationship. Come two years, London 2012 will air on your network. I’ll give you another chance. I love the Olympics, and maybe you will, too, enough to provide full coverage, enough to leave out the polar bear segments and give us what we want: the Games themselves, the athletes, the competition. Bob, you can stay, just fix up the hair, and maybe I’ll make you a sign for my front window, too.

Students tune in to Olympic events

American Lindsey Vonn won her gold in Ladies' Downhill skiing. Her medal would worth roughly $500 if melted down.

At a time when gold is worth roughly $1100 per ounce, the value of an Olympic gold medal lies in both its physical worth and its symbolic meaning. That golden circle hanging around champion’s neck? It represents years of training and sacrifice, the pride of a victory, and the pure hard work of beating out every competitor and becoming the best in the world.

Cue up the Olympic theme song in your head.  The soaring notes work to showcase that broadcasting of exhilarating victories and bittersweet seconds, of devastating mistakes and the spirit of these 16 days of competition on the world stage.

You’ve heard the names: Shaun White, Apolo Anton Ohno, Lindsey Vonn. The hype surrounding these athletes and their sports hit a feverish pitch just prior to the Games, and it continued as these athletes all competed, eventually winning gold. Students caught onto that gold fever and tuned in, witnessing the best of the world go head-to-head in competition.

“Last night I was watching Lindsey Vonn and was really surprised when that German girl [Maria Riesch] won [Ladies' Super Combined],” sophomore Zach Isaacs said. “I mean, she [Riesch] had more medals, but Lindsey was expected to take it all.”

Shaun White’s dominance in Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe brought him a second gold medal and more fans, especially with the unveiling of his new trick, the Double McTwist 1260. Sophomore Luke Vandewater enjoyed watching White’s performance, but he cited a different kind of race as his favorite.

“[My  favorite was] that one event where the girl got completely trashed by the pole, the Swedish girl, not Lindsey Vonn,” sophomore Luke Vandewater said.

Wipeouts were aplenty in many of the events and drew viewers, but senior Kelsey Corbett looks forward to another heavily favored event.

“I’m super pumped for Women’s hockey finals because Canada’s going to win gold,” Corbett said, supporting her native country.

Hockey, snowboarding, skiing, and figure skating may be crowd favorites, but one event has drawn a large following in these Vancouver Games.

“Curling. Curling’s the number one sport, best one in the Olympics,” sophomore Charles Logan Knotts said.

Olympic thrills, spills, and surprises

Photo from www.vancouver2010.com

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have not only brought together 82 nations to compete, but they also have brought a vast array of Olympic Moments. From the tears of near-misses and podium pride to the smiles and cheers of at-last victory and unexpected success, these Games have provided an outpouring of emotion from athletes and fans alike.

Check out a few of these moments the Mill Stream has picked to showcase the latest Winter Games.

The Thrills:

-American snowboarder phenom Shaun White’s second gold medal in Men’s Halfpipe. The Flying Tomato lives up to the hype, laying down the “Double McTwist” at the end to awe audiences with another golden performance.

-American skier Lindsay Vonn fights a bruised shin and a rough, icy course to add Olympic gold medal to her list of skiing achievements in Ladies’ Downhill, then goes on to win bronze in Ladies’ Super-G.

-Johnny Spillane’s silver makes him the first American to medal in Nordic Combined, an event dominated by the Europeans since its arrival to the Olympic Games.

- Russia’s Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy finish 1-2 in the Men’s individual sprint (1.6K) cross country classic, crossing the line in a photo-finish, with Kriukov’s ski edging his teammate’s for the gold.

Russia's Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy skied a very close 1-2 finish in Men's Individual Sprint (1.6K) Cross Country Classic

-American Shani Davis becomes the first man to win back-to-back 1000-m speed skating gold medals as he defended his title, while his teammate Apolo Ohno became the U.S.’s most decorated American athlete (7 medals) with his bronze in the 1000-m race.

-American Evan Lysacek ends Russia’s reign of dominance in Men’s Figure Skating when he upset defending gold medalist Russian Evgeni Plushenko. Lysacek’s Olympic gold is the first for the U.S. since Brian Boitano in 1988.

-Switzerland’s Simon Ammann ties the Olympic record for most decorated ski jumper when he soared to his fourth gold in Men’s Ski Jumping.

-Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capture for hometeam Canada its first-ever medal in Olympic Ice Dancing with their gold medal victory over the U.S.’s Meryl Davis and Charlie White and Russia’s Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin.

-Great Britain’s Amy Williams brings the country its first individual Winter Games medal in 30 years with a gold medal victory in Women’s Skeleton. The race also set a new track record of 53.83sec on the 1,450-metre course at Whistler’s Sliding Centre, at a speed of 143.3 kph, according to www.vancouver2010.com .

The Spills:

-American Lindsey Jacobellis fails to capture the elusive Women’s Snowboard Cross gold the second Olympics in a row, despite her dominance in the event outside of the Olympics. Torino 2006 brought her a disappointing silver after her infamous board grab, but Jacobellis didn’t even make finals in Vancouver after bouncing out of bounds in the semi-finals.

-In an event the Americans were favored to sweep, Gretchen Bleiler misses her chance for a gold medal, falling in each of her two runs of Women’s Snowboard halfpipe. Australia’s Torah Bright edged reigning champion American Hannah Teter to win gold, while American Kelly Clark rounded out the podium with a bronze.

Downhill skiing saw wipe-out after wipe-out, as the rough, icy course brought down many a skier, including Swedish standout Anja Paerson who crashed and slid headfirst across the finish line. Germany’s favorite for the event, Maria Riesch, skiied conservatively and finished the race but failed to make the podium.

-World champion Britain falls in the first day of Men’s Curling after Sweden delivers a stunning defeat, 6-4.

-In the inaugural run of Women’s Ski Cross in the Olympic Games, gold medal favorite French Ophelie David crashes out in quarter-finals, allowing for a Canadian win in the finals by Ashleigh McIvor.

The Surprises:

The U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team defeated hometown favorite Canada in a Premliminary Round, 5-3.

-Nicknamed by some the U.S.’s 2nd greatest Olympic moment since the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. win over the Soviets in 1980, the United States beats out Canada in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary round with a score of 5-3.

-Swedish biathlete Helena Jonsson, world champion and ranked number one, fails to even make the podium in the both women’s individual biathlon events, finishing 49th the 15K, won by Norwegian Tora Berger in 40:52.8, and 12th in the 7.5K sprint, where Anastazia Kuzmina won Slovakia’s first gold medal.

-The Slovakians continue their Olympic surprises with a heavy upset over Russia, a favorite for the gold medal, in a Men’s Ice Hockey Preliminary Round.

-A less arrogant American Bode Miller makes a comeback after his highly touted, disappointing appearances in Torino, shaking off the doubts to win gold (Men’s Super Combined), silver (Men’s Super-G), and bronze (Men’s Downhill).

-American Julia Mancuso adds to the United States’ skiing dominance in Vancouver with 2 silvers (Ladies’ Downhill and Ladies’ Super Combined), becoming the most decorated female American Olympic Alpine Skier with 3 medals (gold in Torino). Prior to Vancouver, she had not even cracked the top-three in World Cup competition in two years due to back problems.

-South Korean Lee Sang-hwa knocks off two overwhelming favorites in the women’s 500m short track speed skating, coming out on top of German world-record holder Jenny Wolf and China’s Wang Beixing. Her gold medal win added a South Korea sweep of the 500-m event in Vancouver to Asia’s unexpected dominance on the speed-skating oval.

-American Hannah Kearney’s win over reigning Olympic champion Canadian Jennifer Heil in Ladies’ Freestyle Moguls leads to a bittersweet silver for Canada’s favorite.

Have other ideas for the best thrills, spills, and surprises of Vancouver 2010? Comment below and let us know.